


Natural Beauty

by Swoopingisbadx



Category: Free!
Genre: AU, M/M, Samezuka!Rei, also i guess there's just hints of rintori if you squint, this is my first time posting on here idk what to tag this as help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-01
Updated: 2014-03-01
Packaged: 2018-01-14 05:14:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1254169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swoopingisbadx/pseuds/Swoopingisbadx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Rei goes to Samezuka with Rin, and quickly ends up falling for Nagisa when Iwatobi begins to regularly join them for practices.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Natural Beauty

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this over on tumblr a few months ago, and finally decided to post it on here. For the most part it wasn't beta'd, so apologies for any errors! You can find me over on tumblr at: bakagamicchii.tumblr.com

     Rei Ryugazaki would definitely remember the first time he met the Iwatobi Swim club; the first time he saw that overly-excited, cheerful, smiling blonde.

    The newest addition to the Samezuka Academy swim team was in the process of doing his pre-practice stretches when captain Mikoshiba announced the arrival of Iwatobi for their first of many joint practices.  His teammate, Rin had told him about Iwatobi when he joined the team in the beginning of the year. The red haired teen was close with the three senior members of the other team, and use to be team mates with them when they were younger. Rei was definitely interested in seeing how the Rin’s three friends, and the rest of the team were in the water.

  Rei heard Iwatobi enter before he even saw them. A loud “RIIIIN-CHAAAAN!” echoed throughout the pool, and all he saw was a rush of blonde hair dart towards Rin. If it weren’t for the height difference, and the massive strength his teammate had, the blonde would have tacked Rin to the ground.

“Argh- Nagisa, get off!” Rin exclaimed, trying to pry the arms of the smaller boy off of him. It was obvious that he had just as much strength.

So this was Nagisa. Rei could have figured it out without hearing the boy’s name thanks to Rin’s description. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and watched as Rin and Nagisa were joined by two other boys from Iwatobi, who had to be Haruka and Makoto, by the way the red head visibly relaxed around them. 

Rei found his eyes darting back to the blonde, who now jumped into the pool without direction and started floating around on his back. He looked like an overly excited puppy—how was someone able to look so happy and thrilled about everything?

It wasn’t as if Rei wasn’t happy about swimming; he enjoyed it, and Mikoshiba-senpai was hands down the best captain he could ask for! But to see this Nagisa not wait for instruction, and just jump in when Samezuka was about to begin lining up for their timed trials, seemed to be a little out of hand. (And was that Nanase going into the water now too? Honestly!)

He stepped to the edge of the pool, and was about to open his mouth to call out to the blonde and tell him to get out of the water and wait his turn, when suddenly Nagisa kicked off the edge of the pool and began to do a perfectly executed breaststroke. Rei froze, mouth half open as he watched the smaller boy. He was so stunned that he let out a small yelp when suddenly someone threw an arm over his shoulders.

“They’re not bad, huh, Ryugazaki?” Samezuka’s captain said with a smirk.

“Mi-Mikoshiba-senpai!” Rei squeaked, standing up straight and fidgeting with his glasses nervously. He bowed slightly, earning a raised brow from the captain in return. “Yes, Nagisa-san and Haruka-san seem to be very talented. I expect nothing less from the rest of Iwatobi.” He gave a quick nod, and glanced back at the pool, this time keeping his eyes off of Nagisa, and focusing on the dark-haired teen instead .  Haruka-san was a natural; it seemed as if he were actually part of the water; it was beautiful.

There was a splash by his feet, and he looked down to yet again see the blonde, hanging onto the edge of the pool, pushing his bangs out of his face.

“Ah! You must be Rei-chan!” Nagisa said excitedly, “Rin-chan has told us all about you!”

   Rei swallowed hard as he watched the water drip from his hair and roll down his face. Yes, they were truly beautiful.

* * *

 

   By the second month of their joint-practices, Rei realized that Rin hadn’t told his friends as much information about him as Nagisa led on. Nagisa, Makoto, and Haru all knew was he was new, specialized in the butterfly stroke, and wore glasses. At first, Rei was annoyed that Nagisa had made him feel as if Rin had gone into detail about him, but it seemed that it was beginning to become more and more difficult to stay frustrated with Nagisa.

            They had two more weeks before they stopped their joint-practices; then Iwatobi would begin practice at their own pool outside, and as their practices continued, Rei found himself hoping more and more that the weather would stay too cold for outdoor swimming for just a bit longer. He’d be lying to himself if he said he didn’t enjoy the company of Nagisa; who seemed to go out of his way to come over to him and talk when they took breaks from their practice.

Rei’s teammates were nice, but the only two friends he had really made at Samezuka were Nitori and Rin; and the two of them basically came in a set. He could never hang out with one for long without the other showing up, and he wondered at first if it was just because Nitori was so fond of “Matsuoka-senpai”; but it wasn’t long until “Matsuoka” was replaced with “Rin”, and “Nitori” was replaced with “Ai”. 

He was finding himself becoming increasingly lonely with exception to their practices when Nagisa would warmly greet him, sit next to him during breaks and ask him questions; he even went as far as sharing some of his strawberry cake he brought with him once. It practically floored Rei; he knew he always came off as rather stand-offish to others in Samezuka, and he always felt the only reason Rin started speaking with him was because he thought Rei would be a great addition to the swim team. So for someone to actively go out of their way to be nice to him…

There was only one thing Rei could think to do: that was return Nagisa’s kindness the best he could!

“Reiiiii-chaaaaaan! Our practices are almost over! You should practice in our outside pool sometime!” Nagisa’s voice suddenly sang sadly, as he practically jumped on Rei’s back, startling him slightly. He didn’t realize that Nagisa and the others had shown up, and he blinked a few times and collected himself.

“You know that would be counterproductive.” He replied as coolly as he could while nervously pushing up his glasses. He didn’t want to admit to Nagisa how much he enjoyed that idea.

Nagisa let out a small whine in response, tugging at the sleeve of Rei’s jacket. The taller teen simply rolled his eyes and gently pulled his arm away. “You’re late; go line up for time trials.” He said, giving the blonde a nudge towards the pool and pulling out his stopwatch.

 He saw that Mikoshiba-senpai was currently too busy trying to chat up Rin’s sister, so he decided to do what senpai would want him to, and got a few of his teammates rounded up to go against Iwatobi in a few timed trials.

Rei stood at the edge of the pool with a stopwatch in his hand, next to Makoto who did the same. The taller teen looked at him and gave him a kind smile, one that Rei couldn’t help but return. He sometimes found himself wondering if Makoto-san was some sort of a saint. He gave the Iwatobi captain a nod and raised his stopwatch, watching Nitori and Nagisa get ready to take off the platform.

“Ready!” Makoto yelled, placing his whistle between his lips. A pause, then the noise of the whistle echoed through the pool, Rei pressing his thumb down on the stop watch as Nitori dove into the pool. He watched intently, darting his eyes between both boys. Nitori was definitely in the lead, but not by much; there was definite room for improvement.

Nitori won, with Nagisa giving him a pat on the back as they both climbed out of the pool, and Rei stepped towards the two of them, shaking his head. “Again, Nitori-san.” He said, tapping the stopwatch.

“Ehhh?! But I won!” Nitori exclaimed, eyebrows raising in surprise.

“It wasn’t your best time, you can do better! That’s what Mikoshiba-senpai would expect. You need to practice your form like Nagisa’s. Nagisa would have impressed senpai with his take off. He-“

“Oi,” Rin interjected, stepping beside Nitori and wearing the same confused expression as the shorter teen. “Ai did well, he can go again later when Mikoshiba’s over here.” He glared in the direction of his sister and their captain, then looked back at Rei, who lost a bit of his demeanor when he saw that Makoto and Nagisa were wearing identical expressions as his teammates. What made it worse was the fact that he could see the light blush beginning to spread across Nagisa’s face at the unnecessary compliments.

He simply cleared his throat and handed the stop watch over to Rin. “Yes, you’re right. I’m going to go get the captain now. Excuse me.” He said, turning and walking towards Mikoshiba.

As he walked over to his captian, he decided that he enjoyed seeing that blush across Nagisa’s cheeks, and he ended up complimenting him for the rest of the day.

 

* * *

 

 

   The moment he woke up he was in a terrible mood. It was as if a dark cloud had formed right over Rei’s head, and it was just threatening to downpour at any moment.

   Today was the last day of the joint-practices with Iwatobi, and although they were graced with an extra two weeks together thanks to the weather, Rei found himself dreading it more than he’d like to. It was as if those extra two weeks just helped Nagisa become a better friend, and he couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not.

  Practice went smoothly though; everyone focusing harder as they became stronger. Iwatobi was the rival school to beat at regionals, and it seemed that most of Samezuka began to focus on that now that they wouldn’t be seeing the other team’s style every week.

  Rei didn’t have much time to talk to Nagisa beforehand, and when it came time for Iwatobi to leave to catch their train, he found himself becoming increasingly anxious over not being able to talk to his friend before he left. That was when Rei found himself waiting for Nagisa outside the locker room, his backpack in his arms.

 When the blonde emerged from the locker room, (last this time, surprisingly), he looked a bit crestfallen. Although the moment he saw Rei, his face brightened, and he walked towards him. “Rei-chan!” he sang, tugging on his arm. “Have you come to walk me out?”

 Rei cleared his throat nervously, feeling his face heat up. “Um- yes! Well, I have these books, I was curious to see if you wanted them.” He said, opening his bag and pulling out a few of them. “Most of them are on the breaststroke; they’re rather interesting, and very informing.”

Nagisa’s mouth fell open slightly as he took one of the books from him. He turned it over, examining it in awe. “Rei-chan, you read all of these?” he asked, peering into the open bag, and taking out another book.

The taller teen pushed his glasses up his face. “Yes.” He said quietly, half expecting Nagisa to laugh at him. But then again, Nagisa never laughed at him for things like this.

Yes, Nagisa laughed at him when he was being foolish, or if he felt like teasing him while they took a break at their practices; but unlike so many people before, Nagisa never laughed at him when he was passionate about something like this. Even Rin would sometimes tell him he took things a little overboard with his calculations and studying; but never Nagisa.

“And I can borrow these, Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked in a soft voice, looking up at him.

He felt his heart stutter when Nagisa’s dark-pink eyes looked into his, and he suddenly bowed, placing his backpack on the ground in the process.

“They’re a gift to Nagisa-kun, thanking him for his friendship and his hard work during our practices together!” He said, almost too quickly, (and rather awkwardly).

            Rei felt his heart pounding in his chest; these feelings he felt towards Nagisa were so foreign, and unlike anything he had ever felt. And when he heard a little giggle escape from the boy in front of him, he felt as if his face was going to melt off it became so red. He didn’t want to look up, he didn’t want to know what type of expression Nagisa was wearing; he didn’t want to know if he sounded ridiculous to the other teen.

            “Rei-chan.”  Nagisa finally whispered after a stretch of silence.

When Rei didn’t look up, a finger hooked under his chin, gently guiding him to look at the blonde. He wore a blush to match Rei’s own, and the fondest smile anyone had ever given him, and the blue haired teen stood up straight, waiting for Nagisa to speak.

The blonde stood on his toes, leaning in and pressing his lips to Rei’s burning-red cheek, and Rei  heard the most embarrassing noise ever come out of his own mouth.

Nagisa giggled again as he stepped away, adjusting the books in his arms. “Write your number in one of these books, and we can plan a date for you to study these books with me, okay?” he said, giving Rei a confident wink. (How he managed to muster enough confidence to do so baffled Rei.)

“I- a date? Yes. Yes, a date. And I’ll make sure to bring those strawberry cakes you like.” Rei said quietly, fearing that his voice would squeak from nerves if he spoke any louder. He quickly bent down and rummage through his bag, pulling out a pen and taking a book from Nagisa, writing his phone number down neatly inside the front cover.

Nagisa let out another giggle, this time a bit louder and more relaxed than the others, and momentarily dropped the books, wrapping his arms around Rei’s neck and squeezing him tight. “Rei you’re the most beautiful hopeless romantic I’ve ever seen!” he laughed, pressing another kiss to his cheek.

He was then quickly scooping up his books and waving to Rei as he ran down the hall to catch up with his teammates. “Rei-chan better have his phone on him! Because I’m texting him as soon as I get on that train!!” he called looking back with a giant smile.

Rei knew beauty when he saw it; a person’s passion towards something, like for example: Rin when it came to improving his swimming- there was beauty in that. The way Haruka swam through the water; that was beautiful. There always seemed to be an action, or a reason behind beauty; so when he laid eyes on Nagisa and saw something beautiful in such a raw form; something that came naturally to him when he simply just gave Rei a smile and a wave, or just simply a look, it blew him away.

 So of course it was easy for him to come to the conclusion that he was without a doubt, in love with Nagisa Hazuki.


End file.
